The new owner of Cumberland River Hospital has submitted a $1 million offer on the closed Jamestown Regional Medical Center.

Johnny Presley of Crossville announced Wednesday, August 7 at Cumberland River Hospital that he has been trying to purchase JRMC for a month.

“It’s a private individual that owns it. It’s been a long road. There are a lot of vendors that have liens on it, but I did make him an offer for a million dollars, and he wanted it in writing,” Presley said. “I formally submitted it in writing, but I would not be liable for any of his bills.”

Presley said he had submitted the offer with a deadline of Tuesday, August 6 but had yet to hear anything back.

JRMC CEO Michael Alexander attended the celebration of the purchase of CRH, and Presley said Alexander has been put into a tough situation as his hiring coincided with the closure of JRMC.

He’s talked a little bit about it for a while and he’s made an offer. That’s as far as it’s gone,” Alexander said. “I don’t know how the company will reply. It’s a corporate decision, so honestly it’s above my head. I’ll know when they tell me.”

Alexander said there is currently a skeleton crew keeping the hospital in shape while they await the decision from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

“(The timeline) is in the air because we’re at the mercy of CMS,” Alexander said. “It can take up to six months. Hopefully, it won’t take that long. We put our application in about 45 days ago, I think we’re about to the end of the processing period. Once we cross the next threshold, we’ll have a better idea of the time frame.”

“Right now, we don’t know. We’re in just a holding pattern.”

Presley owns a number of clinics throughout the Upper Cumberland, including one Acute Care Clinic, next to JRMC. Presley says he plans on applying to offer more services while the hospital is closed.

“I’m going to apply for a certificate of need to put in an out-patient emergency room and out-patient diagnostic center and surgery center there,” Presley said. “This way we can basically provide the services just not admitting patients.”

JRMC closed on June 13 after CMS stopped paying claims at the facility, with a lack of emergency supplies and a problem with liability insurance.

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One person is dead after a semi-truck crashed on I-40 in Smith County Tuesday night, August 6.

Zhong Li, 25, of Rowland Heights, California, is named as the deceased in the Tennessee Highway Patrol report. He was a passenger in the crash.

The driver of the tractor-trailer, Franklin Zhang, 63, of Baldwin Park, California, was traveling westbound on I-40 when he failed to stay on the roadway, according to the report.

“Vehicle one was traveling westbound on I-40 when the driver failed to maintain the lane and left the right side of the roadway,” the report states. “The vehicle struck the guardrail and came to a final rest on its top.”

Zhang is cited for failing to maintain due care, the report states.

Members of the Smith County Rescue Squad and the Central District Five freed Li, who was trapped inside the wreckage, according to the SCRS.

“Rescue and Central District Five personnel continued to work for almost two hours before finally recovering the occupant from the semi,” the SCRS states. “The location and position of the semi, weather conditions and the mud made this a difficult job, but teamwork allowed us to get the job done.”

Troopers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol were still removing the crash site and reconstructing the crash the following morning, Wednesday, August 7.

Trooper Christopher Delong investigated the crash.